Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology provides access to Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) services over unlicensed spectrum technologies. Examples of such unlicensed spectrum technologies include, but are not limited to, Bluetooth wireless solutions and wireless fidelity (WiFi) wireless solutions. By deploying UMA technology, service providers allow wireless subscribers to roam and handover between cellular networks and unlicensed cellular networks using dual-mode mobile GSM/GPRS and UMA-enabled handsets, PDAs and the like. As such, UMA technology provides for wireless subscribers to engage in UMA network access sessions.
Billing options give a service provider flexibility to charge UMA usage in different patterns. By using Cell Global Identity (CGI) based billing solution, these patterns are reflected in UMA CGI and passed to a Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC) so that a billing system at the MSC will be able to apply the appropriate billing option for each usage pattern.
Standalone UMA network architecture, which is currently offered by Alcatel-Lucent, allows UMA functionality to be cost-effectively integrated into legacy core networks. In a standalone UMA network access session, UMA CGI needs to encapsulate both GSM location information as well as UMA billing information. However, for such a standalone UMA network implementation, there is no known solution for allowing UMA CGI to encapsulate both GSM location information and UMA billing information. Although it is known that two associated CGIs (i.e., UMA Registration CGI and UMA Billing CGI) can be used for encapsulating both GSM location information and UMA billing information in next generation networks (NGNs), such a solution does not work with standalone UMA network architecture. For example, implementation of such a two-CGI solution can result in calls being rejected by a MSC handling such calls.
Therefore, a solution for allowing both GSM location information and UMA billing information to be encapsulated during a standalone UMA network access session would be advantageous, desirable, and useful.